The Chillicothe House of Prayer raised more than $10,000 at its second annual "Show God's Love" banquet held Saturday at the Mervyn Jenkins Expo Center.

More than 150 people attended the event, which included silent and live auctions, a catered meal and comments from a guest speaker, as well as remarks by a few individuals active with House of Prayer functions.

Funds raised through table sponsorships, donations, and the auctions will help fund the overall ministry of the House of Prayer, said mission director Greg Hughes.

"We are not self-supporting," he said. "We need help from the community, and the community has been very gracious to us to help us expand our ministry opportunities."

The guest speaker for the evening was Matt Moore, a Chillicothe native who works as quality manager for Cargill, Inc., in Blair, Neb. He is the son of David and Debbie Moore, and grandson of Vince and Millie Moore. He reflected upon his upbringing, which also included church mission trips he took with Greg Hughes.

"I grew up with many good examples of value and the importance of helping others," he said.

Moore spoke about the types of poverty in Northwest Missouri and all that the House of Prayer does in the community to lend a helping hand.

Societal norms think that poverty is not having money to provide for one's existence, he said.

"Money plays a large part in one's ability to survive — to be able to buy food, buy clothing and afford shelter — but, if you think of survival in a broader way, we can think about things like emotional poverty, physical poverty, spiritual poverty."

"The ways we experience poverty varies," he said. "The fact is that everyone needs something. Every human is poor in some way, at some time."

He challenged those in attendance to consider Saturday night's benefit not only as an opportunity to raise funds for the House of Prayer, but to consider the event as a calling.

"To truly impact poverty, we need to think other than just financially," he said. "People hurt for more than just money."

In rural Missouri, as in other parts of the country, there are people who are emotionally hurting, physically in need, or spiritually destitute.

"That's why a mission like the House of Prayer is so very important in our community, because it ministers across those needs," he said. "The more you and I strengthen it with our gifts, the better this ministry becomes."

Breaking the cycle of poverty is about reaching out to someone in need and ministering to them, Moore said. He closed his comments by encouraging those in attendance to think about how they can show God's love to impact financial, emotional, physical or spiritual poverty that is taking place all around.

Page 2 of 2 - "Reach out and create a personal relationship with someone in need in your community," he said. "I can guarantee you that two lives will be enriched."

Also speaking during Saturday's event was Holly Caselman, food director at the House of Prayer. She said the meal program has grown quite a bit and that meals are now served three days a week. Around 100 meals are prepared each week.

Caselman said that she leads a class through the House of Prayer that teaches life skills to young mothers, including cooking, and has Bible studies. The House of Prayer also has a resource room for the distribution of food, clothing and toiletries.

Daniel Savage, Youth and Family director, talked about the way the House of Prayer is reaching children in need.

"To say that we work with kids who are in need would be an understatement," Savage said. "We have kids that are very, very needy for attention, and for a positive role model in their lives. It's challenging, but it is definitely rewarding."

Hughes encouraged those in attendance to become involved in helping through various functions of the House of Prayer.

"When you participate, you help us give a hand to someone in need," he said. "We try to see ourselves more as a hand up than a hand out, so they will reach their God-given potential and be the people that God's called them to be."